The House of Representatives convened for the second regular session of the 154th Georgia General Assembly on Jan. 8.
The spotlight for the first week of the 2018 legislative session was on Gov. Nathan Deal, who is now in his eighth and final year as Georgia’s 82nd governor.
Last Thursday, Gov. Deal presented his final State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate.
I think he did a great job, reminding us of how far Georgia has come since he took office in January 2011 and began guiding the state out of the Great Recession. Among the achievements:
•Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped from 10.4 percent to 4.3 percent — the lowest rate in over 10 years.
•More than 670,000 private-sector jobs came into the state. In the past fiscal year, he said, the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team helped generate $6.3 billion in investments.
During the same year, Georgia’s film production industry generated $9.5 billion in economic impact.
•In each of the past five years, Georgia has been recognized nationally as the No. 1 state in which to do business.
•The state government maintained its AAA credit rating, saving taxpayers millions of dollars in interest on bonded debt.
•Education spending increased by $3.6 billion, making the total education expenditure since January 2011 about $14 billion — more than during any previous administration.
•The HOPE Scholarship and Grant programs, which were approaching bankruptcy in 2011, were salvaged, and the HOPE Career Grant was created to cover 100 percent of tuition for technical college students in 17 high-demand fields.
•The Transportation Funding Act was passed, allowing the state to embark on an $11 billion transportation investment plan.
•And Georgia’s criminal justice system was reformed with state-funded accountability court programs now in all 49 judicial circuits.
Throughout his final State of the State address, Gov. Deal kept the overall tone of his remarks very personal and heartfelt. He also paid an incredible and touching tribute to Mrs. Deal.
Their devotion and dedication to each other over the years that I have known them have been an inspiration to me and to so many others.
We are now in our second week of the session, and my heavy lifting as chair of the House Appropriations Committee begins with budget hearings for both the amended FY2018 budget and the new FY2019 budget.
I also am continuing work on legislation for our rural economic development initiative as well as for Barrow County and the City of Winder.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to represent District 116.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at terry@terryenglandforgeorgia.com or at 404-463-2245. May God bless you and your family, this wonderful county, and our great state.
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Rep. Terry England has served in the Georgia House since 2005. District 116 includes most of Barrow County. In addition to chairing the House Appropriations Committee, he is an ex-officio member of the Ways & Means Committee and a member of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, the Education Committee, the Industry and Labor Committee, and the Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

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